


Nature Morte

by orphan_account



Category: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Identity, Post-Movie(s), Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 01:53:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3832648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So tell me, Major William Cage, who are <em>you</em>?”</p><p>And that's the million dollar question, isn't it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nature Morte

Recounting the story, even just the bare bones version of it, takes him over an hour. That's fine, though; talking is one of the few things Will's always been good at. Rita—alive and whole and _right there_ , Jesus—listens patiently, only interrupting when she wants him to clarify bits of the science he's pretty sure neither of them has ever quite understood in the first place.  
  
“So that's it. We're done,” she says when he's done talking.  
  
Will shrugs. “So it seems.”  
  
Rita is nodding slowly, staring at his face like she's trying to remember all these things she has never done, never been through with him by her side.  
  
“I'm sorry, this is probably going to take me a while to digest. I know— well, I suppose you _know_ that I know just how frustrating it is.” She clears her throat and glances over his shoulder the way he knows she does when she doesn't quite know what to say. “So tell me, Major William Cage, who are _you_? Since you apparently know me and all I've got is your name and rank.”  
  
And that's the million dollar question, isn't it?  
  
It's not that he doesn't have an answer; it feels more like he has a dozen perfectly adequate words in his mind, but none of them are just the one he's looking for and the thesaurus is out of reach.  
  
He could say: _I'm just your garden-variety ad executive from Jersey._  
  
But also: _I'm a soldier who'd never expected to see action._  
  
_I'm a veteran of the most relevant battle humanity's ever fought, except it never even happened so that's not really saying much._  
  
_I'm just some soon-to-be unemployed loser who's spent the past year falling in love with you._  
  
_I'm what_ you _made me, and not in some bullshit 'love at first sight' sense, either. There were tears and sweat and blood and broken bones involved; you beat me and killed me and kissed me and I honestly can't even remember being the guy I'm supposed to be at this precise moment in time._  
  
“This is probably going to sound weird, but could I get back to you on that?”  
  
She smiles for the first time since they sat down. He used to think it was a pity such a beautiful woman didn't smile more, didn't talk more, didn't put herself out there. But that was a different him in a different life, who had no idea how much value a single twitch of the lips could have in a world of no emotional excess.  
  
“This is probably going to sound weird, but that doesn't sound weird to me at all.”


End file.
